The Justice Department May Force ISPs to Save Records of Your Every Move

The Justice Dept. would like to have a better idea of how you are spending your time.

That it would eventually come to this is probably not a surprise -- Internet privacy will soon be as archaic as the telegraph machine.

And yet, this is still worrisome.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein met with the House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security today to discuss data retention — in which Internet service providers and mobile carriers save information about your personal activity carried out online.

Chaired by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican suggested that mandatory requiring service providers to retain records, even temporarily, was "not out fo the question."

According to CNET's Declan McCullagh, while the main reason for laws requiring data retention would be to aid criminal investigations, he also reports that some policy analysts see the push for legislation as "an example of pro-regulatory Republicans."

While the automatically saving the records of all personal online movements would aid criminal investigations, the question of personal privacy remains integral to the legislation. In Europe, laws regarding data retention are also still in infancy and have few guiding precedents — this past March, a German court ruled against data retention.